SPORTS OF THE TIMES; A Tip Of the Hat For Jobs Well Done

By DAVE ANDERSON

Published: November 22, 2007

Despite a perjury indictment in baseball, dogfighting and criminal conduct in pro football, a referee scandal and a franchise's intramural mess in pro basketball, and the forfeit of Olympic medals by a track queen who confessed to using steroids, sports' little corner of the world still has many people to be thankful for today.

HANK AARON, who enhanced his dignity and his 755 home runs with the gentlemanly way he tolerated Barry Bonds's journey past him.

ROY A. COOPER, the North Carolina attorney general, who declared the three Duke lacrosse players innocent of charges brought by the Durham County prosecutor, Michael B. Nifong, who later was disbarred for more than two dozen violations of the state bar's rules of professional conduct.

JESSICA LONG, born without most of the major bones in her legs, which later were amputated below the knees, earned the James E. Sullivan Award as the nation's outstanding amateur athlete at 15 years old after swimming to nine gold medals at the Paralympic world championships in 2006.

TERRY FRANCONA, who calmly led the Red Sox to their second World Series victory in four seasons after all the decades of frustration and failure in Boston.

ROGER GOODELL, the commissioner who not only put new teeth in the N.F.L.'s personal-conduct code but chewed up those who defied it, notably Pacman Jones, the Tennessee Titans cornerback suspended for the season.

ARNOLD PALMER, who finally agreed to hit the ceremonial opening tee shot at the Masters. Now it's time for Jack Nicklaus to join him.

THE RUTGERS WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM, the runner-up in the national championship game, whose justifiably angry and classy reaction to the radio host Don Imus's racial and gender slurs helped cost him his job.

JORGE POSADA, whose best offensive season earned long-overdue appreciation as one of the best catchers in Yankees history.

TED NOLAN, the Islanders' coach, who suggested that Al Arbour, the coach of the franchise's four-time Stanley Cup champions in the early 1980s, be persuaded to come out of retirement to work the bench in his 1,500th regular-season game for the Islanders. And the Islanders won the game.

WILLIE RANDOLPH, the Mets' manager, who didn't deserve to have to wonder about his job for even a day after the team's late-season collapse.

GEORGE MARTIN, the former Giants defensive end who planned to spend Thanksgiving visiting a homeless shelter in Nashville during his ''Walk Across America'' to raise $10 million in medical benefits for the 9/11 responders. He started at the George Washington Bridge in September and hopes to get to the Golden Gate Bridge in March.

THE BLUFFTON UNIVERSITY BASEBALL TEAM, which kept competing to honor five teammates who died in an April bus crash on an Atlanta highway.

LORENA OCHOA, the Mexican golfer who gilded the first Women's British Open over the Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland, with a victory en route to the first $4 million season on the L.P.G.A. Tour.

BRENDAN SHANAHAN, the hockey statesman who, with his three Stanley Cup rings, gives his Rangers teammates somebody to look up to, on and off the ice.

ANGELO DUNDEE, who was Muhammad Ali's trainer throughout the three-time heavyweight champion's career and now has collaborated with Bert Randolph Sugar on ''My View From the Corner'' (McGraw Hill). Nobody in boxing has more or better stories.

BILLY DONOVAN, who spurned the allure of Kentucky basketball history and the Orlando Magic to remain as the coach of the University of Florida's national champions.

WHOEVER HAD THE IDEA for Jackie Robinson Day last April, when so many players on so many major league teams wore his No. 42 on their uniforms on the 60th anniversary of his rookie year. Maybe it should be celebrated every season.

JUSTINE HENIN, the Belgian tennis player who survived several personal problems in her comeback before winning her second United States Open singles title.

CALVIN BOREL, the 40-year-old jockey who was invited to a White House dinner for Queen Elizabeth II after riding Street Sense to victory in the Kentucky Derby.

THE DIVISION III TRINITY FOOTBALL TEAM from San Antonio, which completed 15 zig-zag laterals for a 61-yard touchdown on the final play of a 28-24 triumph over Millsaps of Jackson, Miss. From the snap to Riley Curry's 34-yard dash into the end zone, the play took 46 seconds.

JUAN PABLO NGEL, the Red Bulls striker from Colombia, who was Major League Soccer's second-leading goal scorer with 19 in only 24 games.

JOE TORRE, who grew up on the Brooklyn sandlots as a New York Giants fan and now, after his unnecessary departure from the Yankees after 12 consecutive appearances in the postseason, is finally rooting for the Dodgers as their new manager in Los Angeles. Wouldn't a Yankees-Dodgers World Series complete that circle?